Epic Lightning Photos with Canon Rebel XT, Acquisition Details

I was down in Avon on Friday when I saw some heat lightning rolling through the north. It was crazy consistent, so I snapped some pics with my iPhone. By the time I got back to my apartment, the main body of the storm was approaching. I lucked out with my balcony, it was a perfect shelter from the rain and view to the horizon. I set my camera to ISO 100 for 5 sec exposures then locked the shutter. Here are my best shots out of about 150.

A stack of 8 individual lightning strike frames blended in StarStaX

Single frame at ISO 100 for 5 seconds, super lucky!!

Two lightning strikes in a single 5 second exposure

Homemade Star Charts: Andromeda, Perseus, and Cassiopeia

I really enjoy making star charts from my own photos. It helps me learn the constellations, their position relative to each other, and a little about their features. As I look up each constellation (usually in Wikipedia or Stellarium), I find which stars are the brightest, which have names, and a little about interesting deep sky objects or double stars nearby.

Single frame at 18mm, f/4.5, ISO 1600, 15 sec

First up, the constellation Andromeda, which was directly overhead late last week. I've seen the constellation drawn with as few as 4 stars and as many as 16. The version I chose to draw was the most complex, and is the one depicted in the IAU/Sky&Telescope chart on the Wikipedia page. The constellation contains Messier object 31, also known as the Great Andromeda Nebula or simply the Andromeda Galaxy. I photographed the Andromeda Galaxy last winter, and I hope to improve on my effort in the near future.

Single frame at 18mm, f/4.5, ISO 800, 15 sec

When I see Perseus, I see what looks like a dove or some kind of bird flying to the left. I guess it is supposed to be Perseus carrying the head of Medusa. Algol, the second brightest star in Perseus, is also known as The Demon's Head (how wicked is that!) and represents the eye of Medusa. This is becoming one of my favorite constellations, it's relatively easy to spot as a sweeping arch pointing to Pleiades.

8 subs, 5 darks, 10 bias, each at ISO 800, f/5.6, 15 sec, 45mm

Cassiopeia is a very interesting piece of sky. Situated along the Milky Way, it's full of star clusters. Because of this, I gave Cassiopeia the special treatment with a stack of images rather than just a single frame. I'm definitely going to be back at a higher power to check out some detail in a few of these objects. I'm also realizing that there are a bunch of NGC objects available to me through my little camera that I've been counting out. I've been focusing on Messier objects, but these NGC's (especially the double cluster) deserve some more attention.

Indiana Astronomical Society Novice/Urban Observing List – September 2013

Philip Dimpelfeld from the Indiana Astronomical Society creates a Novice/Urban Observing List each month for newbies like myself with not-so-dark skies and not-so-powerful equipment. The September 2013 list looks like fun, and I've never even heard of some of the items - so it's a great way to learn in the process.
 
Alpha-1/2 Capricorni, “Algiedi”, Multiple Star in Capricornis, 20h 18m, -12d 33m, mag = 4.2, 3.7, sep = 381”. Mag 9.6 and 10.6 companions at 46” and 7” forming a “Double-Double”.

Omicron-1 Cygni, Triple Star in Cygnus, 20h 46.4m, +46d 44m, mag = 3.8, 7.0, 4.8, sep = 106”, 331”

Gamma Delphini, Double Star in Delphinus, 20h 46.7m, +16° 07', mag = 4.5, 5.5, sep = 9.6"

NGC 7009, the “Saturn Nebula”, Planetary Nebula in Aquarius, 21h 04.2m, -11° 22', mag = 8.0, size = 44" x 23"

61 Cygni, Double Star in Cygnus, 21h 06.9m, +38° 45', mag = 5.2, 6.0, sep = 28". First star to have its distance from earth measured by parallax.

M15, Globular Cluster in Pegasus, 21h 30.0m, +12° 10', mag = 6.0, size = 12.0'

M2, Globular Cluster in Aquarius, 21h 33.5m, -00° 49', mag = 6.4, size = 13.0'

M39, Open Cluster in Cygnus, 21h 32.2m, +48° 26', mag = 4.6, size = 31.0'

Mare Nectaris, first quarter Moon

Mare Humorum, third quarter Moon

Challenge Object: Beta Cephei, Double Star in Cepheus, 21h 28.7m, +70° 34', mag = 3.2, 7.9, sep = 13.3"

Conjunction Junction: Planetary Alignments for September 2013

I took these screenshots of Stellarium with the date and time of evening conjunctions for the remainder of September. Venus and Saturn will cross paths as Venus continues to travel away from the sun from our perspective, appearing to move south while Saturn gets progressively lower in the west. All times Eastern US.

Crescent Moon Rises with Jupiter, Weekend Conjunction Coming Soon

I couldn't sleep last night, I think it had something to do with our dog hogging all the pillow space. Either way, it was an excellent excuse to go outside and look at the stars. There was a very thin veil of clouds - not clear enough to try for deep sky objects, but fun to observe the summer constellations.

I also saw some familiar wintery constellations rising low to the East at about 3:56am. The crescent moon was to the top left of Orion, and Jupiter was rising into its next observing season. I also got some photos of Cassiopeia and Perseus that I'll post later.

Single frame, ISO 200, 5 sec, f/4.5, 35mm

Mars was still below the horizon. Looking ahead a few days, the crescent Moon will join Jupiter and Mars in conjunction during the early morning hours on August 31 and September 1, 2013. Next to Mars, Comet ISON is still too faint for my camera (around Mag 12.8). Check out Comet ISON Daily Pictures for recent photos. The comet will make it's closest approach to Mars on October 1.

Screenshot from StarWalk, conjunction early morning September 1, 2013